Tonya Bolden

"Details the story of Michael Shiner, a slave in nineteenth-century America . . . this excellent title offers a uniquely personal look at history. A must-have." —School Library Journal (starred review)
Capital Days introduces young readers to Washington, D.C., during the early to mid-19th century. Spanning more than 60 years, the story of Michael Shiner (c. 1804–1880) highlights a period of immense change in...

From acclaimed author Tonya Bolden comes the story of a teen girl becoming a woman on her own terms against the backdrop of widespread social change in the early 1900s.
Savannah Riddle is lucky. As a daughter of an upper class African American family in Washington D.C., she attends one of the most rigorous public schools in the nation—black or white—and has her pick among the young men in her set. But lately the structure of...

A celebratory and inspiring look at some of the most important black women in STEM. Award-winning author Tonya Bolden explores the black women who have changed the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) in America. Including groundbreaking computer scientists, doctors, inventors, physicists, pharmacists, mathematicians, aviators, and many more, this book celebrates more than 50 women who have shattered the glass ceiling,...

Strong Voices: Fifteen American Speeches Worth Knowing is a collection of significant speeches, made both by those who held the reins of power and those who didn't, at significant times in American history. Read the original words-sometimes abridged and sometimes in their entirety-that have shaped our cultural fabric. Introductions by acclaimed writer Tonya Bolden provide historical context and critical insights to the meaning and impact of every...

Published on the anniversary of when President Abraham Lincoln's order went into effect, this book offers readers a unique look at the events that led to the Emancipation Proclamation. Filled with little-known facts and fascinating details, it includes excerpts from historical sources, archival images, and new research that debunks myths about the Emancipation Proclamation and its causes. Complete with a timeline, glossary, and bibliography, Emancipation...

When a group of students wins a trip to New York City, accompanied by their teacher, they aren't sure where to start. Soon enough, they're roaming the city, from the Statue of Liberty to Times Square, from Chinatown to Central Park, in order to discover what makes New York one of the greatest cities on Earth. Structured like the popular song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," Tonya Bolden's text captures the fun and fast-paced spirit of New York,...

Dovey Johnson Roundtree was most famous for her successful defense of an indigent Black man accused of the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer, a prominent white Washington, DC, socialite, in 1965. Despite her triumph in this high-profile case, Roundtree continued to represent the poor and the underserved. She was the first lawyer to bring a bus-desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, clinching the ruling that enabled Robert F. Kennedy...

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) is best known for the telling of his own emancipation. But there is much more to Douglass's story than his time spent enslaved and his famous autobiography. Facing Frederick captures the whole complicated and, at times, perplexing person that he was. Statesman, suffragist, writer, and newspaperman, this book focuses on Douglass the man rather than the historical icon.

This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history's most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers a book that is illuminating and timely. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will...